In USA, the popularity of 'fast food' is due to a
combination of several factors:

it is fast to order and consume; in fact, the fast food
industry is a model of studied efficiency

it is convenient to order (e.g. combo meals), which is
important in a society running at a hectic pace

it is convenient to consume, either at the restaurant or
taken back to the office or home

it is 'tasty' (e.g. sweet fizzy drinks, salty french fries,
etc)

it is marketed extremely well through numerous tie-ins and
enormous advertising budgets

it is relatively cheap (e.g. compared to sitting down at a
proper restaurant)

it is ubiquitous

The remarkable successes of the giant fast food restaurant
chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut
have encouraged them to expand globally, and they have been largely successful
with some exceptions when they come up against cultural resistance and/or
xenophobia.

We will report some data taken from the TGI Argentina
study. This is a consumer survey of 6,351 persons between the ages of 12
and 75 in Argentina conducted by IBOPE Argentina during 1999. According to
this study, 39% of the survey respondents consumed fast food (comida rápida)
in the last 30 days. In the following table, we break down this number by
age/sex and by socio-economic level.

The above table shows a couple of interesting things.
First of all, the consumption by age/sex is consistent with the observation that
young people are most likely to be fast food consumers. Outside of
the USA, the big American fast food names such as McDonald's and Burger King
carry notions of trendiness and prestige associated with the English-speaking
United States of America. Consumption of fast food therefore signals
active participation in the global culture of consumption. The other thing
is that fast food consumption level increases sharply with socio-economic
level. What is regarded as down-scale, low-brow comestibles in the USA
becomes up-scale, fashionable food elsewhere, and thus calling for a different
set of marketing positioning and strategies. One extraordinary
circumstance in Argentina is that Buenos Aires has one of the world's only two kosher
McDonald's restaurants, the other one being in Israel.

Now, fast food is not without its serious critics. In
terms of nutritional value, fast food meals are regarded by professional
nutritionists have too much fat, too many calories, poor nutritional value and
contain harmful food additives, flavor enhancers, coloring agents, sweeteners
and preservatives. Fast food make consumers feel satisfied without
supplying the proper and balanced nutrition. For this reason, fast food is
crowned with the label 'junk food'.

In the TGI Argentina study, the respondents were shown the
statement "I think that fast food is 'junk'" ("Pienso que
comida rápida es chatarra"). Among all survey respondents, 36%
agreed completely with this statement. But here is the odd outcome about
this question --- among people who completely agreed with this statement, 33%
consumed fast food in the past 30 days! There is barely any cognitive
dissonance about eating what you recognize as junk food.

Buenos Aires, Argentina (photo credit: Roland Soong)

Perhaps the proper attitude towards this matter is that we can
enjoy the occasional cheeseburger, french fries and soda. The point is not
to eradicate all fast food from the face of the earth, but to educate people
about recognizing and maintaining a healthy, balanced diet.